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Tuesday, July 8, 2014

US ‘kidnaps’ Russian MP’s son to ‘exchange him for Snowden’

The US “kidnapped” the son of a Russian MP, possibly to exchange him
for Edward Snowden, the father charged. The man was indicted with
computer-related crimes by a Washington DC court and snatched from the
Maldives.

Roman Seleznyov was
detained on Saturday at Male international airport as he was
returning to Russia, the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday
in a statement. He was forced by agents of the US Secret Service
to board a private plane to Guam to be later arrested, a move
which the ministry called “a de-facto
kidnapping.”“We consider this incident as a new hostile move by
Washington,” the statement said, accusing the American
authorities of ignoring proper procedure in dealing with foreign
nationals suspected of crimes.
“The same happened to Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, who were forced to go
to the US from third countries and convicted on dubious
charges,” the ministry said.

The notion was seconded by Valery Seleznyov, Roman’s father and a
Russian lawmaker, who told RT that he considers the situation as
an illegal act.
“For all I know they may be demanding a ransom tomorrow. Or
try to exchange him for [NSA whistleblower Edward] Snowden or
somebody. One can only wonder,” he said.
He added that he could not contact his son and that the American
authorities had denied him his phone call.
“They took him to Guam because the American laws are not
fully applicable there,” the lawmaker explained.

The MP said that his son has scant computer skills and could not
be involved in any sort of hacking.
Earlier on Monday, the US Secret Service and the Department of
Justice announced the arrest of Roman Seleznyov, who is facing
trial in Washington DC on charges including identity theft, bank
fraud, illegally accessing information on protected computers and
trafficking in unauthorized access devices.

The US says between 2009 and 2011 the man was involved in
stealing and selling credit card data of American citizens. The
Secret Service called Seleznyov one of the world's most
prolific traffickers of stolen financial information.
Roman Seleznyov earlier made headlines in 2011, when he was among
the victims of a bombing attack in Morocco.

The US has a record of taking drastic steps when it wants people
held in custody. The methods may vary from the widely-criticized
practice of “extraordinary rendition,” or the blatant kidnappings
of terror suspects during the Bush era to putting pressure on
foreign governments to allow American agents a free hand on their
soil.